Susanne Schulz-Falster Catalogue Fifteen

Statutes of the City of Siena – Regulating City Life
83 [STATUTES – SIENA.] Statuti dell’Università de’ Mercanti,
e della Corte de gl’Offiziali della Mercanzia della Città di Siena.
Riformati per comandamento del Sereniss. Don Cosimo II, Gran
Duca Quarto di Toscana. Divisi, secondo l’antica forma loro,
in Quattro Distinzioni. La Prima, tratta Del modo di eleggere
gl’Offiziali, & i loro Ministri, e de gl’obblighi loro. La Seconda,
Dell’ordine, e modo di procedere nelle Liti, e Cause; e dell’eseguire
le Sentenze. La Terza, Del modo di convenire tra i Particolari. La
Quarta, Delle cose da osservarsi dall’Arti. Con la Tavola di tutte le
Rubriche. Siena, Bonetti 1619 £3,800
Folio, pp. [xii], 160, with woodcut and vignette to title and decorated
initials throughout; some spotting and light browning; contemporary
full limp vellum, some insignificant staining, with remains of the leather
ties; some worming to inner joints, with two wormholes extending
through the first and final two leaves; not touching any text; extensive
early manuscript annotations, mostly marginal, but also to final endpaper;
an attractive copy.
Second revised edition of the mercantile statutes of the city of Siena. These
statutes had a fourfold purpose: first, to organise the election and appointment
of officials; secondly, to mediate in disputes and serve as a mercantile
court; thirdly, to organise the structure of different guilds; and finally,
to organise business activity, taxation and politics in the city of Siena. In
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